The real Docker Engine on Windows, without Docker Desktop.

Free for any company. Terminal only. 9× lighter on Windows, and 24 MB when nothing is running.

irm https://lindowin.dev/install | iex

Then docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx just works. On Windows 10, 11 and Windows Server, even Server Core.

Español · Website

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Why developers switch

1. 💸 Free for any company. Docker Desktop needs a paid plan above 250 employees or $10M in revenue. lindowin is open source (MIT) and installs only open-source pieces: the real Docker Engine and the official docker CLI, compose and buildx.
2. 🪶 9× lighter on Windows. Its Windows programs use 46 MB instead of ~420 MB, and 0.9% CPU instead of 7.9%, with the same three containers running. With no containers, it sleeps at 24 MB.
3. 🔌 Nothing to change. It serves Docker on the same \\.\pipe\docker_engine as Docker Desktop: your compose files, VS Code, Testcontainers and SDKs work as they are.
4. 🌐 Ports like on Linux. Your compose file decides: 80:80 is on your network, 127.0.0.1:80:80 stays on your PC, TCP and UDP, even specific IPs.
5. 🖥️ Windows Server and Server Core. Linux images (nginx, postgres...) where the native Docker for Windows Server can only run Windows images.
6. 🧠 Takes care of itself. Starts with Windows, sleeps when idle, keeps containers running while Docker updates itself, and explains confusing Docker errors right in your terminal.

The numbers

Measured on the same PC with the same three containers (Postgres, Redis, MinIO) running, against Docker Desktop 4.97:

	Docker Desktop	lindowin
Windows programs (RAM)	~420 MB	46 MB	9× less
Windows CPU	7.9%	0.9%	9× less
Asleep / resource saver (RAM)	~380 MB	24 MB	16× less
Disk, without your data	~5.6 GB	~2.3 GB	2.4× less
Cold start	37 s	10–19 s	up to 3.5× faster
Total RAM with 3 containers	2.08 GB	1.71 GB	18% less

Inside Linux both use the same memory: the difference is everything Docker Desktop runs on Windows. Full benchmark and method.

How it compares

	lindowin	Docker Desktop	Native Docker on Windows Server
Linux images (nginx, postgres...)	✅	✅	❌ Windows images only
Free for companies	✅	❌ paid above 250 people / $10M	✅
Windows Server / Server Core	✅	❌ not supported	✅
No GUI, starts without signing in	✅	❌	✅
Official docker CLI, compose, buildx	✅	✅	✅

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Install

Open PowerShell (no admin needed) and paste:

irm https://lindowin.dev/install | iex

docker works in that same window when it finishes. The first install takes a few minutes (it downloads Ubuntu and Docker). Windows asks for administrator permission once.

Other ways:

• Blocked domain? irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alozdev/lindowin/main/install.ps1 | iex
• Scoop: scoop bucket add alozdev https://github.com/alozdev/scoop-bucket then scoop install lindowin
• Double-click: download the ZIP, extract it and run install.cmd.

What the installer does

• WSL: installs it if missing. If a restart is needed, the installer continues by itself after you sign in again.
• Engine: creates a WSL distro called docker (Ubuntu 24.04) and installs Docker Engine with the official script, started by systemd. Services a Docker-only system never uses are turned off, so Linux starts in ~2.6 s.
• Windows tools: docker.exe, docker compose and docker buildx from their official sources (compose and buildx checked against their published checksums), plus the lindowin command.
• Ports: published ports work like on Linux.
• Start: at sign-in on PCs, at boot on Windows Server.
• Admin step (once): the docker-users group, the start task and the service that opens published ports. Say no and Docker still works, only from your PC and without autostart.
• Check: it tests the whole chain at the end.

Already have some of this installed?

Run the installer anyway. It is safe to run more than once and only adds what is missing:

You already have...	What the installer does
WSL	Uses it. If it is older than 2.4.4, it runs wsl --update.
A distro with the same name	Reuses it. If Docker Engine is already installed there, it is kept.
Your own /etc/wsl.conf	Keeps it and only adds the needed keys (backup: wsl.conf.before-wsl-docker-engine).
The Docker CLI / compose / buildx	Updates them, skipping any that are already up to date.
Docker Desktop	Stops and explains why: both want the same pipe. Uninstall it first, or use -Force.
Podman / Rancher Desktop on \\.\pipe\docker_engine	Asks you to stop it first.
DOCKER_HOST, or another docker.exe earlier in PATH	Warns you, because those would take priority.

Requirements

• Windows 10 2004+ or Windows 11, x64. Windows Home works.
• Or Windows Server 2022 / 2025, with or without desktop (Server Core works).
• Virtualization enabled in BIOS/UEFI (on by default on most PCs).

Use it

Docker is used exactly as always: docker run, docker compose up, docker build... To manage lindowin itself there is one small command:

lindowin status          Is Docker running? Containers, memory, disk, updates
lindowin update          Latest lindowin and Docker CLI (keeps your settings)
lindowin stop            Stop Docker now and free its memory (containers shut down cleanly)
lindowin start           Start it again (any docker command does that too)
lindowin compact         Give unused disk space back to Windows
lindowin config          Show the settings below
lindowin uninstall       Uninstall, keeping your containers and data (--all deletes them)

Settings (lindowin config <setting> <value>), remembered on updates:

Setting	Values	Default
idle-sleep	on / off: stop the Linux VM after 5 min with no containers	on on PCs, off on servers
start-at	signin / boot: start when you sign in, or at boot with nobody signed in	signin on PCs, boot on servers
share	me / all-users: just you, or everyone in the docker-users group	me
network	mirrored / nat / local: how published ports reach the network	mirrored if it works on your PC

Changes apply right away, and terminals that are already open keep working.

Idle sleep

With no containers running for 5 minutes, lindowin lets WSL stop the Linux VM: Docker then uses 24 MB instead of ~1.5 GB. The next docker command starts it again, and Windows shows a short "Starting Docker..." notification so the wait (about 20 s, why) is not a mystery. It never sleeps while a container runs or a command is in progress. Turn it off with lindowin config idle-sleep off.

Published ports

Ports follow your docker-compose.yml / docker run -p exactly, as on a Linux server:

You write	Reachable from
80:80	Your PC and your network (TCP)
127.0.0.1:80:80	Only your PC
192.168.1.20:80:80	That network IP only
53:53/udp	Your PC and your network (UDP)

The Windows firewall opens a port when its container starts and closes it when it stops: only the ports you published.

Tip: databases and admin panels usually don't need to be on your network. Publish them as 127.0.0.1:5432:5432.

Network modes. By default lindowin uses WSL's mirrored networking (Windows 11 22H2+ / Server 2025), which behaves exactly like Linux. If mirrored breaks WSL's internet on your PC (it happens with some VPNs), the installer switches to NAT with port forwarding by itself. You can also choose with lindowin config network nat:

	Mirrored (default)	NAT (fallback)
80:80, 127.0.0.1:80:80, UDP	✅	✅
Specific IP (192.168.1.20:80:80)	✅	❌ the container does not start: lindowin's note in the error explains it
Wakes from idle sleep in	~22 s	~11 s
Works with every VPN	Usually	✅

Your original .wslconfig is backed up and restored when you uninstall.

Windows Server and shared machines

Same installer, same commands. On Windows Server it detects the edition and Docker starts at boot, without anyone signing in, like the Docker service on Linux. Containers with restart: always / unless-stopped come back after a reboot.

• Works on Server Core: everything runs from PowerShell.
• Virtual machines: enable nested virtualization on the host (Hyper-V: Set-VMProcessor -VMName <vm> -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions $true).
• Server 2022 has no mirrored networking, so it uses NAT. Server 2025 uses mirrored.

Share Docker with every user of a server, lab or family PC: lindowin config share all-users (or install with -AllUsers). The programs go to Program Files and the machine PATH, Docker starts at boot, and everyone in the docker-users group can use it, like the docker group on Linux:

Add-LocalGroupMember docker-users <user>     # as administrator

Updates

• Docker Engine updates itself inside Linux, with Ubuntu's security updates. With live-restore, running containers keep running while it does.
• lindowin and the Docker CLI for Windows: once a day lindowin checks for new versions and tells you (a notification on PCs, a line in lindowin commands). Nothing is installed without you: run lindowin update, and your settings are kept.

When Docker says something confusing

Some Docker errors make no sense on Windows. lindowin adds one line to them, in your terminal, with the fix:

Error response from daemon: ... failed to bind host port 0.0.0.0:5432/tcp: address already in use
lindowin: port 5432 is already used on Windows by postgres.exe (PID 4120). Stop that program, or publish a different host port.

Situation	What lindowin tells you
A Windows program already uses the port	Which program and its PID
A port on a specific IP without mirrored networking	How to switch to mirrored
A Windows path in docker run -v C:\...	The /c/Users/... form to use
Docker lost a network's setup	docker compose up -d --force-recreate (data is kept)
WSL started without network (VPNs)	It restarts WSL once by itself; if that fails, a notification
Docker Desktop or Podman took the Docker pipe	Which program, in a notification and in lindowin status
Less than 2 GB free, or 5+ GB to give back	A notification, and lindowin compact

How it works

 Windows                                         WSL 2 distro "docker" (Ubuntu)
 ───────                                         ──────────────────────────────
 docker.exe / compose / buildx / VS Code ...
        │
        ▼
 \\.\pipe\docker_engine  ◄── docker-pipe-relay.exe ── wsl.exe ── socat ──► /var/run/docker.sock
   (same pipe as Docker Desktop)                                              │
                                                                       Docker Engine (systemd)

Docker Desktop does the same thing internally: a Linux VM in WSL runs dockerd, and a Windows process connects the pipe to it. lindowin replaces that GUI app with small, readable pieces:

• src/wsl/setup.sh: configures the distro: systemd, Docker Engine, automatic updates, a lighter system and faster start.
• src/relay/docker-pipe-relay.cs: the relay, with idle sleep and the error notes. Compiled on your PC by the C# compiler that ships with Windows: no prebuilt binaries are downloaded from this repo.
• src/ports/docker-port-sync.cs: opens and closes the firewall for published ports. Also compiled on your PC.
• src/lindowin.ps1: the lindowin command.
• install.ps1 / uninstall.ps1: the Windows side.

Uninstall

lindowin uninstall           Remove lindowin, keep the engine with all containers, images and volumes
lindowin uninstall --all     Remove everything, including all Docker data (asks you to confirm)

It removes docker.exe, the compose/buildx plugins it installed, the relay, the start task, the port service and every firewall rule it created, the docker-users group (only if it created it), the PATH changes and the ::1 preference, and restores your original .wslconfig. Plugins you installed yourself are left alone.

Before --all: stop your apps (docker compose down) so databases shut down cleanly, and back up named volumes if you need them, for example docker run --rm -v myvol:/v -v /c/backup:/b alpine tar czf /b/myvol.tgz -C /v .. Folders from Windows (bind mounts like ./data) are never touched.

Good to know

• Compose bind mounts work (./data:/data): compose turns C:\... into /c/..., and /c is your C: drive inside Linux. With plain docker run -v, write /c/Users/you/project:/app.
• Performance: named volumes live inside Linux and are fast. Bind mounts of Windows folders work but are slower, as with Docker Desktop. Prefer named volumes for databases.
• File permissions on Windows drives work (WSL's metadata option), so images like Postgres run on bind-mounted Windows folders.
• localhost means 127.0.0.1. WSL cannot pass IPv6 loopback (::1) to containers: Linux drops it and apps hang. So lindowin lowers only ::1 in Windows' address preference table (if you never changed it): localhost tries 127.0.0.1 first, and every other IPv6 address works as before. Uninstalling puts it back.
• Uninstalling Docker Desktop deletes your compose and buildx plugins (they share a folder). Run lindowin update to put them back.

Security

• Who can use Docker: only your Windows user and members of the local docker-users group, like Docker Desktop. Network clients are rejected.
• No TCP port: Docker is never exposed on tcp://...:2375.
• Ports are opened only for what you publish, and closed when the container stops. 127.0.0.1 ports are never opened.
• The port service runs as SYSTEM (it changes the firewall), is compiled into Program Files where normal users cannot replace it, and only reads from Docker.
• No impostors: if another program owns \\.\pipe\docker_engine, the relay refuses to start.
• Verified downloads from official sources, and automatic security updates for Ubuntu and Docker Engine.
• Nothing installs itself: updates are announced, never applied without you.

Anyone who can run docker effectively has root inside the WSL distro, as with Docker Desktop.

Troubleshooting

Start with lindowin status: it shows what is wrong and the command to fix it.

Problem	Fix
docker not found	Open a new terminal (PATH changed), or run the installer from PowerShell with irm ... | iex.
failed to connect to the docker API at npipe:////./pipe/docker_engine	lindowin start. If lindowin status names another program (Docker Desktop, Podman), quit it first.
Install fails with 0x80370102	Enable virtualization (Intel VT-x / AMD-V) in BIOS/UEFI.
WSL lost internet, or containers have no network	lindowin config network nat (some VPNs break mirrored networking).
A published port is not reachable from the network	C:\ProgramData\wsl-docker-engine\port-sync.log. If you skipped the admin prompt, run the installer again.
docker compose or docker buildx missing	lindowin update (Docker Desktop's uninstaller removes them).
Smart App Control blocks docker-pipe-relay.exe	It is built on your PC and not signed yet, so Windows may block the first run of a new build. lindowin retries by itself and Windows usually allows it the second time; if not, run lindowin start. Signed builds are planned.
An app hangs connecting to localhost (works with 127.0.0.1)	Run the installer again: it makes localhost try 127.0.0.1 first. Check with ping localhost (it should answer from 127.0.0.1).
Docker inside Linux does not start	wsl -d docker -u root -- systemctl status docker

Logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\wsl-docker-engine\bin\docker-pipe-relay.log.

Benchmark

All numbers measured on one PC (Windows 11, 12 cores, 8 GB for WSL), lindowin 1.2.0 vs Docker Desktop 4.97, both with WSL mirrored networking unless noted. "Windows programs" is the private memory of each tool's own processes; the Linux VM is measured separately.

	Docker Desktop	lindowin
Windows programs, 3 containers (RAM)	~420 MB	46 MB
Windows CPU, 3 containers	7.9%	0.9%
Memory used inside Linux, 3 containers	804 MB	815 MB
Total RAM (Task Manager), 3 containers	2.08 GB	1.71 GB
Asleep / resource saver (RAM)	~380 MB	24 MB
Asleep (CPU)	3.2%	0.6%
Disk without your data	~5.6 GB	~2.3 GB
Cold start, WSL off (NAT)	37 s	~10.5 s
Cold start, WSL off (mirrored)	n/a	~19 s
Wake from sleep (NAT)	7 s	~11 s
Wake from sleep (mirrored)	12.5 s	22 s
docker run --rm alpine true, awake	0.5 s	1.3–1.5 s

Where Docker Desktop is faster, and why:

• Waking up. lindowin runs a regular Ubuntu with systemd, which gives automatic security updates and clean Docker restarts but adds ~2.6 s to every start; Docker Desktop's own minimal Linux skips that. Mirrored networking adds ~8 s more to any WSL start (for Docker Desktop too). With lindowin config network nat, lindowin wakes in ~11 s.
• Each docker command. The official docker.exe that Docker publishes for download is not digitally signed (the one inside Docker Desktop is), so Windows Defender inspects it every time it runs: about 0.5 s. The lindowin relay itself adds only 30–90 ms per request.

FAQ

Why not just use Docker Desktop? It is good software, but it needs a paid plan for larger companies, runs a GUI and background services all the time, and does not run on Windows Server. lindowin gives you the same Docker experience from the terminal, with only open-source pieces.

Why not Podman? Podman is a good option too. lindowin is for people who want the real Docker Engine (100% Docker behavior, BuildKit, compose) with the official CLI.

Why not set DOCKER_HOST=tcp://localhost:2375? That opens an unauthenticated root-level port, and WSL's localhost forwarding breaks the streams docker run uses to show output. The named pipe avoids both problems.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome: bug reports, tests on other Windows versions, ideas. See CONTRIBUTING.md and the changelog. If lindowin is useful to you, a ⭐ helps others find it.

Licenses

lindowin is under the MIT License. The installer downloads these components from their official sources; it does not redistribute them:

Component	License	Source
Docker Engine (Moby)	Apache-2.0	download.docker.com (apt)
Docker CLI	Apache-2.0	download.docker.com
Docker Compose	Apache-2.0	github.com/docker/compose
Docker Buildx	Apache-2.0	github.com/docker/buildx
socat	GPL-2.0	Ubuntu archive
Ubuntu	Various open-source licenses	Microsoft Store / Canonical

Docker and the Docker logo are trademarks of Docker, Inc. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Docker, Inc. It does not use or modify Docker Desktop.